Uber And Lyft Preparing To Go Public

Ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft have filed S-1 paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Wall Street Journal revealed that Uber filed its paperwork confidentially earlier this week, just days after Lyft did the same. According to sources close to the latter, an IPO debut in March of April is being targeted. It remains to be seen when exactly Uber intends on going public in 2019 but company chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi has told investors that the company is targeting an offering in the first half of the year.

Bloomberg states that Uber will need to list by the end of next year or some investors will be free to sell their shares on the private markets.

Of the two, Uber is expected to bring in the most money. In fact, Bloomberg reports that a public listing could value the company at as much as $120 billion. Morgan Stanley will lead Uber’s public offering next year while Goldman Sachs Group will also play a role throughout the IPO process.

By comparison, Lyft has yet to determine how many shares it will sell in the listing or the potential price range for the stock. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed that the technology company will work with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group AG, and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. These banks have pitched valuations for Lyft from about $18 billion to $30 billion.

While listings of Uber and Lyft will create very different valuations for the two, both the companies have been struggling to turn consistent profits. In fact, Uber lost $1.1 billion in the third quarter on $2.95 billion in revenue. In Q3 2018, Lyft’s revenues reached $563 million but it lost a considerable $254 million.